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“You could tell by the way she looked at me – she just thought that here was another oldie who would be a pain in the neck. You could tell she was sick of me before I’d even opened my mouth.” (Quote from an older person discussing the attitude of a shop assistant) This chapter deals with one of the most important issues for older people and those working and living with them. Ageism can be seen as underpinning all of our responses to older people, and to our own ageing. As such, then, it shapes the experience of older people in a fundamental way, in the way that they interact with younger people, and in the choices that are open to them. We feel that it is important, therefore, to explore this issue in some depth – recognising, however, that the literature on ageism is vast and that what we do here is concentrate on points that we feel are crucial to developing practice with older people. Underpinning any aspect of ‘ism’ is a differential value being placed on something, be it skin colour, social class, gender or age. Ageism is not something that belongs to (or is caused by) the individual who is older, but it belongs to the social world in which they live. It is this social world that determines where its values lie. In developed and, perhaps even more so, in developing countries, ideas about what contributes to society (and so is more valued) are linked to financial or material contributions to society and independence from the need for support from the rest of society.
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